Mark Making

    Earlier this week i was doing some spray painting and using a plant pot to stand the object on. Once i had finished i discovered i had created lines on the pot that faded out. I fell in love with the bright colours together and lines they had created. The way the colours faded out together softly into the natural pot reminded me of the ideas i thought of when on the Island of Spinalonga. The ruins and bare bricks with brightly painted colours over the top, or dancers in colourful skirts. Spray painting could be used to create movement in the skirts.





    I wanted to focus on mark making and using basic small materials such as string and tape. Using a yellow highlighter, i created random lines on the page and added some small pieces of tape. Then using a piece of string i lay it down creating loops mimicking the shape of a dancers body. Using charcoal i scraped it over the page. I aimed for the charcoal to cover the highlighter but it still showed through so once i removed the other materials the little colour showing wasn't so effective. To improve this i would do more layers of charcoal or use another medium such as paint.

     I felt the outline of the abstract dancer wasn't obvious and just appeared more like a mess. I tried to make it more obvious by following the outline with a red ink pen. I think it helped make it stand out, however i dislike this piece as i feel i could develop this hugely by creating a detailed drawing in colour (instead of highlighter lines) then recreate it with the string outline so sections show but charcoal cover parts up still; showing the distance between reality and other people when daydreaming. I found throughout this process i really liked the lines created where the charcoal meets the tape as it builds up but is unique due to having rugged edges and not straight ones.


   I transferred the tape to the next page and smudged out the charcoal lying on top of the tape. Then i removed the tape and repeated the process until all the charcoal faded. I really like the outcome of this piece and the layers created by the overlapping of the tape. I would love to develop this further possibly use this when drawing an image like a face. When i remove the tape i could fill some gaps in with a lighter less defined/ complete drawing in the gap and leave some empty. Hopefully it would look like the drawing was built up in layers. I would also like to develop this into painting where i could do a similar process.



   On the next page i experimented with oil pastels as i have never picked up a skill using these as i find them very restricting. On this page i had scraped the charcoal down the page then used the purple oil pastel to mix in with the charcoal. I would love to learn and pick up a skill with oil pastels so i find dry mediums more interesting to use. I began suing the string to make the lines on the page by pulling it tight and rubbing it in side to side motions. I also tried mixing the colours in oil pastels together on this next page. I used green, purple and grey. I used my finger to smudge out the colours which i really like as i feel its a similar effect to when the spray paint faded out. I created some round circular marks by putting the top end of the pastel flat on the page and turning it. I layered a few circles to create a skirt. I find this technique quite interesting and would definitely like to experiment further with the idea of the shapes. Possibly try it using paint on a larger scale. I created a normal skirt by using the purple to create the shape and the grey and green to add shading to create moving motion. I used a photo from the ones i took of the dancers as i find the movement in the skirts fascinating. Using my finger again, i faded out the edges. I would like to make the faded out colour stand out more so it doesn't look like it accidentally smudged. Lastly, i sued some chalk to smudge. I find chalk difficult to use as most of it falls apart, creating dust instead of actually marking the page. Here i pushed the dust into the middle, creating a centre as if it was a slower. I liked how the outcome of the dust is uncontrollable but could still created marks with it. Unfortunately, i had no possible way to make the dust stick in place. However, to develop this further i could created a drawing by using dust and letting dirt or sand stick to it.


      Next i wanted to create a background by layering material. I was limited but found tinfoil and green napkin paper. I ripped the pieces up and layered them on the page. I made smaller pieces of the tinfoil to fade it out on the page. Also screwing some pieces to appear as if its falling apart. However i dislike this as it is placed badly so doesnt appear to be pieces falling off. I used a black biro to repeat the image of the flower i had created previously for the projector imaging. I had no wire so it is not as effective. I couldve used the string but as it doesnt stand off the page it would cover some of the drawing. This inspired me to use the tinfoil to create prints from objects and lines.
 
  I went outside and pressed a leaf, brick and tree trunk onto some tinfoil to create marks. The leaf turned out really well as it had bold lines from leaf veins. I think to help make the lines stand out more i could of pressed the tinfoil on some wet paint so the lines would remain empty so visibly stand out.
    A problem with using tinfoil is that it is easy to accidentally pull and lose the lines created. The tree trunk i was able to get a few straight lines but they werent incredibly strong and not obvious from where they came from. I shouldve tried using the side of the tree with the bark as those marks would be incredibly stronger and deeper.


    The last thing i did was look through my work from last year. ( https://charlottebrownyear1.blogspot.com/ ). I wanted to reflect and discover techniques i forgot about and could develop further into my new work. This made me think about materials such as thread, clingfilm, bottle tops and tape transfer. Additionally, the idea to ask other people of their thoughts and opinion. I would like to sit some people down and have them listen to a song then tell me their thoughts and reactions to the sound and lyrics. Everybody thinks uniquely and interpret things differently so would be interesting to look at these songs from another perspective to influence my work.


   Lastly, an artist i love, Tender, has released a new song called Handmade Ego. The instrumental and voice is amazing but i was very amazed by the video where the repeated image became liquidised. The colours began running together and the shape constantly changing. I really loved the effect and would love to experiment and create a similar version in my work, possibly listening to this song so i could create some markings and use colours that i feel fit to the music.